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Kobe hints at joining Twitter

Over the past few days, Kobe has been controlling @nikebasketball and having a little fun in 140 characters or less. He was replying to fans and keeping them updated on what he was doing during the day.

Now, he’s vacated the Nike account – after gifting them with a few hundred thousand extra followers – and this leaves us asking; will Kobe now join Twitter with his own account?

Well, Kevin Ding is wondering about that, too. Here’s what he had to say:

Will Kobe really join Twitter? Based on one of his Tweets via @NikeBasketball, it sounds promising. He wrote …

“I’m seriously thinking about starting my own. I enjoy this connection with no filters.” Bryant directed the Tweet to @sparkofkindness.

Kobe had been operating the Nike Basketball feed in recent days with photos from the Lakers’ trip to Denver and his off day back home, ending the stint Thursday night with the sign-off “I will be in touch soon.”

Why did he do it? Bryant wrote in another Tweet to @Swiss_Marino: “I did it for fun. Thought it would be great to touch base with you without filters.”

As much as I’d love Kobe to join Twitter, there are a few reasons I wish he wouldn’t: it’s always seemed to me that he’s more “untouchable” than most celebrities, and that helps add to his mystique. It’s like if Michael Jackson was still alive and he started an account and was replying to fans; it kind of takes away from that “aura” surrounding the legends. They’re more accessible and instantly appear more human.

Of course, they are human just like the rest of us, and there’s nothing wrong with them relating to their fans. But what about people who aren’t fans? What about the “haters”?

The stuff that LeBron James gets tweeted is pretty crazy, even if at times it’s just people joking around. Either way, it seems to me that LeBron stays out of his mentions most of the time as he doesn’t to get into it with any of his followers. Kobe’s already been replying to messages, so who knows the kind of hate he’d receive on there.

Kobe’s always wearing his “big boy pants” though, so I doubt it’d affect him that much, however it may surprise him seeing as he’s been mostly out of the social media loop since the rise of it. He uses Facebook, but doesn’t appear to read many of the comments that are left on his page – most of those comments are from fans who have “liked” him, anyway.

Although, this is all pretty trivial at the end of the day. I’m sure Kobe can take care of himself and having a little more insight into his day would be great.

Keep an eye out on New Years Day, too – that could be the perfect time for the Black Mamba to strike.